VLOOKUP stands for vertical lookup and we can use to scan a column and get matching data. In this article, learn how to use VLOOKUP with 10 practical examples. You also get a free sample workbook to practice VLOOKUP.
Table of Contents
What is VLOOKUP?
VLOOKUP stands for Vertical Lookup. We can use it scan your data to find a matching value.
You can use the below syntax to write VLOOKUP.
'SYNTAX
=VLOOKUP(search_value, in_this_data, return_column_number, approximate_match_ok?)
- Search_value: this is the first parameter or option for VLOOKUP. You can specify the lookup value here. It can be a typed-in value or reference to a cell value.
- In_this_data: This is where your data is. It can be on the same worksheet or in another tab. It can be a range of values (like B5:E17) or a table (like tblSales).
- return_column_number: This number tells VLOOKUP which column to extract after the result is found. Refer to below examples to better understand this.
- approximate_match_ok? This TRUE / FALSE setting tells VLOOKUP if you want an approximate or exact match for your search. In 99% of situations, I use FALSE for this, as we need EXACT matches in business situations.
VLOOKUP Explanation
Here is a simple VLOOKUP to get the sales value of Josh from my sales data in the range $B$5:$E$17. The formula returns the result of $1680.
Refer to below image to understand the concept of VLOOKUP.
'SYNTAX
=VLOOKUP(search_value, in_this_data, return_column_number, approximate_match_ok?)
'EXAMPLE
=VLOOKUP("Josh", $B$5:$E$17,3,FALSE)
'RESULT
1680
EXPLANATION
Vertically looks up “Josh” in column B of the range B5:E17 and returns the exact matching value from column D (3rd column from B). Refer to the above picture and syntax to understand the concept.
VLOOKUP - 5 Essential Examples
Now that you understand the concept of VLOOKUP, let’s look at 5 essential examples of this lookup function in day-to-day business settings.
Note: All these examples use the same sales dataset as above. You can grab a copy of this file from here.
Example 1 - Basic Usage of VLOOKUP
The most basic usage of VLOOKUP is to lookup a value in a table and get corresponding matching value from another column.
In this example, we want to lookup sales of “Josh” from the sales data in the range B5:E17.
'EXAMPLE 1
=VLOOKUP("Josh", $B$5:$E$17,3,FALSE)
'RESULT
1680
Example 2 - Using Input Cell for Search Value
One simple way to make your VLOOKUP formulas powerful is by using input cell to maintain the search value. This way, everytime you need to search for a different thing, you just update the search value.
'EXAMPLE 2
'Put a person's name in cell G8, such as Jagjit
'Formula:
=VLOOKUP(G8,$B$5:$E$17,4,FALSE)
'RESULT
709
Example 3 - Searching by pattern (name begins with)
Many times, we don’t know what the full value is. We just know the first few letters. For example, looking at the sales data in range B5:E17, you want to find the sales of the person whose name begins with the value in cell G5.
For example, G5 contains Jav
In this case, we are looking for the person Javed.
'EXAMPLE 3
'Type Jav in G5
'Formula:
=VLOOKUP(G5&"*",$B$5:$E$17,3,FALSE)
'RESULT
$2277
How this “Name begins with” VLOOKUP works?
- The formula is =VLOOKUP(G5&”*”,$B$5:$E$17,3,FALSE)
- First let’s look at the search_value option. This is G5&”*”
- As G5 is “Jav”, this becomes Jav*
- * is a special character for VLOOKUP. It means, anything after Jav.
- So VLOOKUP looks for any name that begins with Jav and finds Javed.
- The rest is easy to understand.
POP QUIZ…
- How would you find Net Sales for the person whose name ends with sh
- Write a formula for that and share your answers in the comment section.
Example 4 - Get the entire record
Let’s say you want the entire record, not just Net Sales column (3). In this case, you can use an array as the 3rd parameter for VLOOKUP. See this powerful example.
'EXAMPLE 4
'Get entire record for Johnson
'Formula:
=VLOOKUP("Johnson",$B$5:$E$17,{1,2,3,4},FALSE)
'RESULT
The entire row of values for Johnson
Johnson 10 $1,540 $570
Note about using this formula:
- If you have Excel 365 or using Excel on the web, the above formula works as is.
- If you are using any older version of Excel (such as Excel 2016 / 2013 / 2010), then you should do the below steps:
- Select a range of 4 cells for your result.
- Type the formula in the very first cell.
- Then instead of pressing ENTER, press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Example 5 - When VLOOKUP can't find the value...
Life would be just awesome if we can always find what we want. Sadly, that is not the case. So what happens when VLOOKUP can’t find the value you want to look for?
It will return an error. #N/A error.
See below example. Read on to learn how to fix the problem.
'EXAMPLE 5
'Looking for an non-existent value
'Formula:
=VLOOKUP("Chandoo", B5:E17,2,FALSE)
'RESULT
#N/A
How to fix the #N/A error in VLOOKUP?
We can use the IFERROR function of Excel to handle errors with our VLOOKUP FORMULAS.
For example, you can use this formula to show a message like “Person not found” for the Example 5 above.
'EXAMPLE 5 with error handling
'Looking for an non-existent value
'Formula:
=IFERROR(VLOOKUP("Chandoo", B5:E17,2,FALSE), "Person not found")
'RESULT
Person not found
How to use VLOOKUP when you have data in a table?
VLOOKUP works great with data in tables or regular ranges. I prefer using VLOOKUP with table data as tables are easier to manage business data.
Related: Learn how to create and use Excel Tables.
Here are 3 examples of using VLOOKUP with CTRL+T Tables in Excel.
'VLOOKUP TABLE EXAMPLES
'Data is in table named tblSales
'Formula:
=VLOOKUP("Josh",tblSales,3,FALSE)
'Result:
$1680
'Formula
=VLOOKUP(G37,tblSales,3,FALSE)
'Result
$1799
'Formula
=VLOOKUP(G41&"*",tblSales,3,FALSE)
'Result:
$2277
Learn more about tables in Excel:
- Tables are a very powerful and time-saving feature of Excel. Please refer to below articles to learn more.
- How to create and use tables in Excel
- Tables + VLOOKUP examples
VLOOKUP - Video Tutorial
Please refer to below video tutorial to understand how to use VLOOKUP.
Download VLOOKUP Examples - Workbook
Please download the sample workbook for this article and learn how to use VLOOKUP quickly.
What are the limitations of VLOOKUP?
While VLOOKUP is a game changer when it was originally introduced, when you look at the data challenges we all face in 2024, it suffers from many limitations. Here are the main downsides of using VLOOKUP.
- It can only lookup on the left-most column: VLOOKUP can only search on the data in left-most column of the table and return values to the right. So, if you want to find out the sales person’s name who has sales of $2,133, we can’t do that with VLOOKUP.
- We can use INDEX+MATCH or XLOOKUP (my preference) to solve this problem.
- Column Numbers: Let’s be real. Nobody refers to their data by column numbers. We think and memorize the data by what it is. So, if I want to lookup a name and get the corresponding sales, then I must translate the sales to column number for VLOOKUP. This is lame.
- We can use XLOOKUP to fix this problem.
- No Error handling: VLOOKUP doesn’t handle errors by itself. So if your lookup cannot find the value, it just comes back with #N/A. This often has a cascading effect on the charts, dashboards or reports you create.
- We can use either XLOOKUP or IFERROR to solve this problem.
- Approximate Trap: I can’t tell you how many times I accidentally leave the last parameter of VLOOKUP out and end up getting wrong results. This is because, if you forget to say FALSE at the end of VLOOKUP, you fall into the approximate trap. Your VLOOKUP RESULTS WILL BE WRONG.
- We can use XLOOKUP or be careful when writing VLOOKUPS.
My top 3 Alternatives for VLOOKUP
Let me be honest here. As of 2024, I no longer use VLOOKUP to solve my lookup problems in Excel. I use one of these alternatives depending on the nature of the job.
- XLOOKUP: Ever since XLOOKUP was launched a few years ago, it has become my go to lookup formula. It can do everything VLOOKUP does and adds many time-saving features.
- XLOOKUP can lookup both vertically or horizontally.
- XLOOKUP defaults to exact match all the time.
- It can lookup on any column and return another column (thus fixing the left column only limitation of VLOOKUP)
- It has built-in error handling mechanism.
- It works well with new Dynamic Array world of Excel.
- Power Query: We can use the MERGE Queries functionality of Power Query to lookup and get matching values for two tables quickly and efficiently. I mention this in my recent video here.
- Power Pivot: If you have two tables each holding one piece of a data puzzle and you want to answer business questions by combining both datasets, we can use Power Pivot’s relationship feature. This automatically connects both tables and let’s you synthesize data to answer queries. Learn how to use Power Pivot to replace VLOOKUPs.
In conclusion: Should you learn and use VLOOKUP?
As mentioned above, I no longer actively use VLOOKUP for my lookup problems. That said, it is a very useful formula and I recommend everyone to learn the basic syntax at the minimum.
- If you use Excel 365 or Excel on Web: Focus on learning XLOOKUP instead.
- If you also work in Power BI: Learn how to use Power Query and Power Pivot to replace LOOKUPS in your data.
- If you work with older versions of Excel: Then VLOOKUP is a must for you. Learn and use it well.
More information on VLOOKUP
Check out below resources and help to learn more about VLOOKUP and alternatives.
41 Responses to “Calculate Elapsed Time in Excel [Quick Tips]”
Hi Chandoo,
To calculate time lapses in excel I usually use the DATEDIF function. Even though is undocumented by MS there is a great explanation of its use in Chip Pearson's site :
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datedif.aspx
Is pretty easy to use and has great flexibility.
See you and keep Excelling!!!
Another great article, I will be linking to it on my blog.
Oliver:
Yes, I think that DATEDIFF do it better.
Great post! This a fantastic tutorial on calculating elapsed time in Excel that could be helpful even to a novice user. Keep up the useful tips!
Also, the Office community on Facebook could really benefit from you knowledge! Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/office
Cheers,
Andy
MSFT Office Outreach Team
hi, Chandoo !!!
for elapsed time , we can use this unique formula either for hours, minutes or seconds : NOW()-A1)
but using respective special number formats
for hours : [h] ==> 46553
for minutes : [m] ==>2793212
for seconds : [s] ==> 167592763
We can also use mean duration for years (orbital period of the Earth around the Sun : i-e tropical year) which is : 365.25 days
and mean duration for month : 365.25/12 days
be Excelent !!!!
@Oliver... Thanks for the pointer to datediff(). I will update the post with information about this as well.
@Glen... thanks for the linklove 🙂
@Andy... Welcome. Thanks for telling us about the office community on FB.
@Modeste ... that is very cool. I will remember these formatting codes for an upcoming article on number formatting codes 🙂
Great tip Chandoo! I use the formula to calculate years elapsed all the time. It can seriously help save a ton of time with calculations. Also, NETWORKDAYS is one that helps and can seriously impress a boss. Keep up the great work here!
No problem! I will definitely be directing people with tough Excel questions to your blog. Keep up the great posts!
Andy
MSFT Office Outreach Team
Hi,
always great posts and a good way to start my day
but regarding the elapsed time calculations: have you never noticed that there is a result difference between using =TODAY()-A1 and using =NETWORKDAYS(A1,TODAY())?
try it for A1= a Monday such as 21sep09 and "today" is e.g. a Thursday; you get 3 or 4 respectively as a result, depending on the formula used; this is because formula =networkdays() always includes both the startdate and the end date and not only the time between these 2.
This is easily corrected/compensated bij always adding a -1 to the =networkdays() formula because the majority of us will count startday as day 0 and then the result will be consistent across the different formulas.
However, you then get into trouble if you calculate the networkdays for a date further in the past and where either the start or end date falls in a weekend.
just thought to point this out as to me these formula's are not interchangeable just like that!
have a great day!
Paul
=DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"Y") & " Y, " & DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"YM") & " M, " & DATEDIF([DOJ],TODAY(),"MD") & " D"
This will fix your 30 Days problem
I calculated the time diff between two date+ times by subtracting 2 cells & custom formatted it to "d hh:mm" format.
E.g.
Cell A1 04-Jan-12 6:00 PM
Cell A2 05-Jan-12 4:45 PM
Cell A3 0 22:45 (formula: =A1-A2)
Wat shud i do 2 not display the "zero" values i.e. no. of days in this case is zero hence the cell shud display " 22: 45" and not "0: 22: 45".
@Amol
Try the Custom Format code:
[
<1] hh:mm ; [>=1] d “d” hh:mmHi Chandoo,
If possible to compute the interval of time and date in one column.
In column C I would like to compute the total days and hours . What formula ? Please help
Example.
Column A Column B
2/13/12 3:30 AM 2/14/12 12:00 AM
In referenc to Elapsed time in months
To calculate the elapsed time in months, we can use the formula =(NOW()-A1)/30. This returns the value in 30 day months.
I use to apply formula =ROUND((TODAY()-A1)/30,0). Today, I faced a peculiar situation, A1 has date 01-Mar-2009, and today being 01-Mar-2012, it should be 36 months, but it is showing 37 months!!
Any suggestions to avoid such errors?
Regards,
Prasad DN
All I want to do is add up a series of times and receive a reply that gives me a total. What I used to do was subtrace the end time from the start time and format the result as [hh]:mm but this doesn't seem to work anymore. How has Bill Gates confounded me?
@Pete
I use Excel 2010 and it still works
The times must be entered as times in the format hh:mm:ss or hh:mm without seconds
Adding up times is as simple as =Sum(Range) or =Sum(A2:A10)
then using a Custom Number format as you have mentioned [h]:mm
If this isn't working, 2 ideas
1. Check your times are times and not text
2. Can you share your data or file with us?
My hospital tracks times from patient arrival to various procedures or treatments. When those times cross over midnight, the regular formulas (2nd time minus first time) don’t work because the result is negative and Excel (2007) won’t show a negative number in time format.
I couldn’t find a solution here (chandoo.org) but found one elsewhere that worked and it’s very simple. I would like to share it.
Assuming 1st time in A1 (column for patient arrival time) (11:00 PM), and 2nd time in B1 (column for x-ray given) (12:30 AM)). Should be 1:30 elapsed time.
=B1-A1+(B1<A1) [This comparison is the key to the solution.]
=12:30 AM – 11:00 PM + (12:30 AM < 11:00 PM)
=0.0208 – 0.9583 + (True)
=-0.9375 + (1) [This is the key! If it is false, Excel adds 0. If it’s true, Excel adds 1 and that is what corrects the negative number. Now Excel can interpret the number as a time.]
=0.0625
Converted to hh:mm = 1:30
I wrapped this formula inside an IFERROR one to alert my data entry person if she messed up and applied it to lots of different columns and it has worked wonderfully. No more complaints from the data entry person who just plugs in times from medical charts.
Very interesting solution. Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us.
HI,
I am working on a Xl application..
I want to capture time between two clicks.
Ex, in my application during run somewhere I press OK button and then I click Cancel.. I want to measure time between these two clicks... Is it possible??
Pls help on this...
@shashidhar
The answer is Yes
You will have to add an appropriate VBA event to start and stop a timer.
There are techniques which can time to the millisecond so maybe look those up on the net
WOW!!!!!! I truly love your excel time format program! WHOOOO! I am very interested in how the time formats "update" (manually on a physical keyboard) that "updates" the time into its respective decimal time formats, such as:
YYYY.yyyy, HH.hhh, etc...
How do those formulas or equations work if not in Excel mode? Example: TI calculators, Word, or any other computer language programming? Just wanted to see how it works. E-mail me at Ultra64848689Ti@gmail.com.
Thanks again for an EXCELLENT Excel program into decimal time formats!
Here's an idea: how about creating an APP for iOS and Android? Just wanted to point that out. =-D
Regarding the elapsed time in months:
I made this function to determine the time elapsed since a date using the number of days in each respective month. It's a simple subtraction and I think it works very well:((Year Today-Year A1)*12++(Month Today - Month A1)+(Day Today/Days in Month Today)-Days A1/Days in month A1)
Here's the function:
=((YEAR(TODAY())-YEAR(A1))*12)+(MONTH(TODAY())-MONTH(A1))+(DAY(TODAY())/DAY(DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())+1,0))-DAY(A1)/DAY(DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,0)))
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!
I need the ability to calculate how much progress we have made between two dates and I want to represent that as a percentage.
I am thinking this would be a combination of today, networkdays & dividing the days elapsed vs the total days. Then it should be as easy as formatting my cell. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
@Christian
Your correct
dates are just numbers and so you can use simple math to derive the percentage
=(Date Now-Start Date)/(End date-Start date)
that will give you a number between 0 and 1
which you can format as a %'age
is there a way out to calculate the productivity for an employee
The day start is at 08:00 and day end is 20:00
The start date / time is recorded and end date / time is recorded
I want to calculate the timelapse taking into consideration the day begin and dayend time.
If the work begins and ends the same day, a simple formula b1-a1 would compute the productivity.
But if the process remains incomplete and is carried over to the next day, then timelines to be computed accordingly
to clarify,
if start time of an activity is 03/15/2015 18:00 hrs and end time is 03/16/2015 11:00 hrs, then the resultant formula should be 5 hrs (ie 18:00 to 20:00 hrs on day1 + 08:00 to 11:00 hrs on day2) ie 2+3
please guide.
Venkatesh, try (b1-a1)-0.5
This will subtract the fixed amount of time between shifts, 12 hours. If the time between shifts varies, then you could reference other cells that contain the variables.
Please help. when I use the networking days formula I get a date (2-may-00) I want actual number of days. I managing projects and I need to know how many days have passed since we received a project to the current date. Please help Thanks
@Aria: Just format the cell as general or number. that will fix the problem.
You rock! I looked at 17 other sites and they all did not work. Yours did. Thanks!
Hi folks ...
calculating age in years , months and days
=text(now()-a1,"yy")&" y " &text(now()-a1,"mm")-1 &" m "&text(now()-a1,"dd") & " d"
Hi, the Elapsed time in days [ =TODAY()-A1 ] works great however, if I do not have a date in A1, it shows 42157. Anyway to get it to display 0 or a Null value?
@Dan
=If(A1="",0,TODAY()-A1)
I get #NAME? and the formula does not work.
Hi Chandoo,
This might be a challenge - I am looking to calculate elapsed time between two columns
Start date Complete date
9/9/2015 7:21 10/2/2015 11:01
I need to take into account the following:
1) The employee works 7:00-3:15 pm each day
2) Std Work hours are 7hrs 45 min each day
3) Need to take into account all holidays in between start and end date
4) Work week is Mon through Friday.
Can you help?
Thanks!
Hi, i have a certain name (wilium) in column A and against this name i have 2 option, 1 Done and 2 Inprogress. i want that i count done again wilium and count inprogress against wilium separately. which formula will work for it??
Hi, i have a certain name (wilium) in column A and against this name i have 2 option, 1 Done and 2 Inprogress in column C. i want that i count done again wilium and count inprogress against wilium separately. which formula will work for it??
Year, month, day results for DoB.
The formulas I have found on the net and the datedif function do not work. This is what I came up with using a Microsoft support paper dated April 1997 with some modifications:
IF(OR(A2>$A$1,ISBLANK(A2)),"",IF(YEAR($A$1)=YEAR(A2),0,IF(MONTH($A$1)>=MONTH(A2),YEAR($A$1)-YEAR(A2),YEAR($A$1)-YEAR(A2)-1))&" years "&MONTH($A$1)-MONTH(A2)+IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)<=MONTH(A2),DAY($A$1)<DAY(A2)),11,IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)=DAY(A2)),12,IF(AND(MONTH($A$1)>MONTH(A2),DAY($A$1)=DAY(A2),ABS(DAY($A$1)-DAY(A2)),DAY(EOMONTH(A2,0))-DAY(A2)+DAY($A$1))&" days")
Check it out...
Hi, Augustin
what about :
calculating age in years , months and days
=YEAR(NOW()-DoB)-1900 & " y " & MONTH(NOW()-DoB)-1 & " m " & DAY(NOW()-DoB) & " d"
Hi Chandoo,
I am looking for help with the elapse time formula. I have a recruitment tracking sheet where we track the number of days the positions are opened, and when they are finally closed.
The opened positions will have a running turnaround time (TAT) formula and I am using this formula:
=NETWORKDAYS (start_date, TODAY (), Holidays2018)
Now, without disrupting the running TAT formula, how do I then get the TAT to stop when we have a final end date? All the information below is row:
- start_date --> Cell A
- TODAY () --> cell B
- end_date --> Cell C
Hope you are able to help. Thanks!
Interesting question. Try this:
Thank you for this helpful article. I was trying for days now to figure it out. Now the only issue I have is that if I do not have a value inputed for =TODAY()-[@[Date Precured]] Date Precured then it shows 44055. How can I get it to leave it blank if there is no data? Thanks again!!!